Train travel in Japan 

It is not difficult to travel around Japan by train, as the trains are generally very fast, very efficient and cover most of the country. Moreover, Japanese trains tend to follow the published departure/ arrival schedule to the minute. As such, the trains in Japan almost always depart and arrive promptly on time. So you it is up to you to ensure that you are always at the station on time in order to avoid missing the train.
If you are planning to do a lot of traveling around Japan, your best bet would be to purchase the Japan Rail Pass. The Japan Rail Pass will allow you unlimited travel on almost all Japan Rail (JR) trains for set periods of either seven, fourteen or twenty-one days. You can only buy a rail pass outside of Japan and not while you are in the country. As such, be sure to purchase an exchange order before your trip to Japan.

However, you will be able to buy other regional JR passes while inside Japan. For a cheaper train ride in Japan, you should opt for the private railways instead of the JR network railways. However, if you are switching between two rail networks, you may just end up paying more.

It is important to note that majority of the trains in Japan do not operate 24 hours a day. As such, if you are out late, you should keep in mind the departure time of the last train so that you do not miss it. In the event that you do, you could always go to the bars or clubs which normally remain open until the first morning train is running. If you are a woman traveling alone, you can have a sense of security by traveling in the women cars on the train. These are usually reserved by many of the Japanese trains for women only during the morning and evening rush hours. These cars have special stickers to indicate them, both on the train and the platform, as well as the times in which they are in-effect.

If you will be travelingin the big cities in Japan, you are better off purchasing a rechargeable contactless smart card such as the Suica/Pasmo for the Tokyo/ Kanto region, or the ICOCA/PiTaPa, for the Kansai region. These are convenient as they will automatically calculate your correct fares. There are also the travel desks at major train stations from which you can purchase your ticket from a vendor. While buying your ticket, you could also find out the departure times of your train, as well as reserve a seat for a more comfortable journey. Japanese trains include the popular Bullet train known as Shinkansen which is the fastest train on the Japanese rail network, with speeds of up to 300 km/h. However, you should note that the Bullet trains do not run at night. Unless you absolutely must, you might want to avoid taking the local trains or subway in Japan during rush hours over the weekend as they tend to get extremely overcrowded.

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